


Simulacrum

by shadowblade_tara



Series: Spiderweb [4]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen, featuring more bad spanish, overlaps with strong as steel, peter meets his 'verse jefferson davis, things are just a little strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 12:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20389429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowblade_tara/pseuds/shadowblade_tara
Summary: Peter has never paid much attention to the police in his ‘verse.  After all, they consider him a criminal for the most part, even if he is a useful criminal.Needless to say, it takes him by surprise to hear a very familiar voice calling out to him while he’s on patrol one night.





	Simulacrum

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the attention you've given this silly little series! I love all of you!

Peter has never paid much attention to the police in his ‘verse. After all, they consider him a criminal for the most part, even if he is a useful criminal. 

Needless to say, it takes him by surprise to hear a very familiar voice calling out to him while he’s on patrol one night.

“Spiderman!”

He almost falls off the wall in shock. Instead he just flips off and lands somewhat gracefully on his feet. (He’s kind of dreading the day the landing starts to hurt, but that hasn’t happened yet.) There, standing in front of him, is none other than Jefferson Davis.

Except he’s wearing normal street clothes with his badge and gun clipped to his belt. Detective, then, not officer. Also, this Jefferson Davis has no clue who he actually is.

It takes him a moment to find his voice. “What can I do for you, detective?”

Davis (just Davis, definitely not Jefferson) leans against his car with a casual smile. “Oh, I was just wondering if you’d heard anything about criminal activity in the docks.” he says, voice just as casual as his smile, and it’s setting Peter on edge. “Rumor is getting around that Kingpin might be setting up shop there, and that’s more your area than mine.”

Oh, now that’s clever. Davis has to know there’s no way Peter’s not investigating that. “I haven’t heard anything, but the night is young.” he quips. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground.”

Davis just nods. “I appreciate that.” With that he gets back in his car and leaves.

Peter just stands there for a moment, watching him go. 

Well. That was weird. Even for him.

/----------/

He finds himself in Noir’s ‘verse. They don’t visit Noir or Ham too often – color and humans stand out brilliantly in those ‘verses – but the two visit the others often enough to make up for it. Peter stays in Noir’s home, slouched on one side of the couch while Noir slouches on the other. Noir nudges him with his foot.

“You’ve got something on your mind.”

“Apparently my ‘verse has a Jefferson Davis.”

Noir freezes. “I don’t know why I find that surprising. I mean, every ‘verse has a Spider, right?”

Peter nods. “That was pretty much my reaction. Still, it got me thinking.”

“If there’s a Jefferson there, maybe there’s a Miles?”

“Yeah.”

Noir considers that for a moment. Peter just studies the ceiling. There’s so many water stains up there from patched leaks that it’s like looking at constellations. Noir nudges him again to get his attention.

“Would it even matter? It’s not Miles.”

“Not our Miles.” Peter agrees absently. “Not our Jefferson, either. I’ve just been thinking of him as Davis.” Noir nods understanding. Peter continues. “I don’t know, man. I guess I’m curious how similar they are, if he’s even there.”

“Don’t see why he wouldn’t be.” Noir comments. “You should check. Can’t hurt, right?”

Oh, it can. It can hurt plenty.

But Peter has never been good at avoiding pain.

/----------/

It seems like no matter where Peter goes on patrol, eventually, he’ll find Davis there.

“I feel like you’re stalking me.” he gripes, perched on top of the man’s car. “Does your wife know she has competition?”

Davis just shrugs. “I’m not married.”

That chills something inside him. “So no kids, then?”

“Nope.”

No Miles? That’s – Peter isn’t sure if that makes him feel better or not. Distantly, he’s aware that his Miles finds this entire thing vastly amusing, but he doesn’t focus on the boy just yet. “I bet you’d make a great dad.”

Davis shrugs again. Peter gets the impression he’s had this conversation a thousand times before. “Maybe. But I never wanted a kid, so what does that tell you?”

Peter snorts. “Well, I never wanted one, either. Then I met this one kid and got attached. I have it on good authority that I’ve got the dad-thing down. At least the worrying part.”

“Kids will do that to you, or so I’m told.” Davis replies gamely. “Do you want them now? The kid change your mind that much?”

Peter doesn’t respond to that. He simply leaps up into the air and vanishes, the answer burning in his heart.

No. He didn’t realize the difference at first, but he doesn’t want kids – he wants _Miles_ and _Gwen_ and _Peni_. Those are his kids, those are the ones he loves so damn hard it hurts.

And that’s why MJ won’t take him back.

/------------/

The weird fact of Miles not existing in Peter’s ‘verse is enough to send the others searching as well. Peter originally thought it was an anomaly of his own world, but no. 

Nowhere in any of their ‘verses is there another Miles Morales. 

“You don’t find that strange?” Peter asks Miles. They’re sitting on the top of Brooklyn Bridge, masks up as they eat hotdogs Jefferson got them from one of the street vendors. Miles just grins at him.

“Why would that be strange?” he asks.

“Well, there’s a Peter Parker in every ‘verse.” Peter replies, and he can’t quite keep the touch of bitterness from his voice. He looks away, staring down at the water below. Miles nudges his shoulder to get his attention. “What?”

“No. There isn’t.”

Peter just gives him a look. “You know, it’s kinda hard to forget the others when you have them all in your head.”

Miles shakes his head. “You all have the same name. You are _not_ all the same person. Do I really need to explain that to you?”

“Humor me.”

Miles rolls his eyes. “Do you really think you and Noir are the same person? Or Noir and Ham? I mean aside from the obvious.” he snaps before Peter can protest. “And don’t even get me started on you and Parker.”

Now that’s new. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you refer to him as Parker.” Peter says quietly.

It’s Miles’ turn to look away, except he stares out at the city. “Doesn’t feel right to call him Peter.”

“That’s his name.”

“_You’re_ Peter. You’re _my_ Peter.”

Peter frowns. “I’m not even from this dimension.”

“Doesn’t stop you from being _my_ Peter.” Miles finishes off his hotdog and stands up. “Come on. You wanna finish patrol?”

It’s not a change in conversation. There’s simply nothing more to add. It’s the certainty of it that makes Peter smile as he stands up and pulls the mask back down.

“Think you can keep up with me?”

Miles laughs and pulls down his own mask. “Just try to lose me, old man.”

“Okay, you asked for it!”

And the two are off, chasing each other through the city.

/----------/

There’s a faint thought that Peter’s been entertaining for a while now, and he thinks about it again as he patrols the city late one night.

Noir is sleeping in his office. Ham is doing his own patrol. Gwen is eating dinner with her dad. Peni is making some modifications to the goobers (something about toughening up the bands so they don’t get lost in battle). Miles is doing a tentative patrol himself, following Jefferson around as his dad drives in his patrol car. The stab wound has healed into a harsh scar, and Peter knows Jefferson is terrified of the wound reopening. He doesn’t quite trust his son’s accelerated healing.

Which, fair. If Peter didn’t have his own ‘verse to look after, he’d be accompanying the teen on his patrol. 

Miles pokes at him mentally. _I can totally take care of myself, man._

There’s no real heat to his words, and Peter just smiles under his mask. The one good thing to come out of that situation is that Miles is now a hell of a lot more cautious about coming in with his fists. 

_Hey, I scared everyone, even myself. Besides, news flash, knives hurt._

_Shouldn’t you be focusing on your swing?_

Miles sends him an image that almost makes him fall out of the sky laughing. He’s currently perched on the roof of his dad’s cruiser while Jefferson drives through the street. The lights and sirens are going – they’re responding to a robbery, if Peter understands the radio chatter properly. Jefferson didn’t want Miles swinging quickly through the city, not so soon after being injured. Miles wasn’t about to stay behind.

This was the compromise.

_Okay, I have to admit – I never thought of doing that._

_Helps to know the cop._ Miles replies a little smugly.

“Hey, Spiderman!”

Peter cuts his swing short and flips out of the sky, landing neatly in front of Davis. He tilts his head to the side, Miles withdrawing and allowing him to completely focus on the detective. “You know, this is becoming a habit.” he says. “I thought cops didn’t like vigilantes.”

Davis shrugs. “Normally, we don’t. But I don’t wanna go up against Doc Ock anytime soon, either.”

“Understandable. The tentacles are a bit much.” He gives an exaggerated shudder, and Davis chuckles. 

“Actually, I wanted to check in on you.” he admits. “You don’t normally check out as fast when you help us. Something must have happened.”

Peter does his best not to flinch. “Yeah, sorry about that.” Normally Peter doesn’t just up and check out when the cops actually _request_ his help, but they were wrapping things up anyway, and then Noir broke into his mind – 

Davis is already shaking his head. “We had it. But what happened?”

“Family emergency.” Peter says shortly. 

Davis nods, considering. “Got anything to do with that kid of yours?”

Peter can’t help it. The idea of _any_ version of Jefferson Davis referring to Miles as _Peter’s kid_ – he laughs, long and loud.

“Yeah, it did.” he says, still chuckling. “But he’s okay now.”

“Good. I hate it when bad things happen to kids.”

“Me too. Especially that kid.” He springs up and latches on to the light post above him. “Just do me a favor – you ever get the chance to meet him, call him _my kid_. I desperately need to see his reaction to that.”

Davis’ laughter follows him into the night.

/----------/

For once, Miles visits Peter in his ‘verse.

They aren’t suited up, although Peter has his suit on under his clothes. He suspects Miles has his in his bag. Peter’s not fond of the idea of Miles being Spiderman in his ‘verse for anything other than some training, but if an emergency crops up, he’s not going to say no to the help. Miles is okay with that. 

Besides, today is a normal day of just touring the city and checking out the differences.

“Dude, check it out!” Miles is almost hopping in front of him, pointing to the 2nd and Charles store. “Let’s go take a look!”

Peter grins. “Yeah, sure.” They walk inside. It’s not too crowded, which just means that Peter can see the cashier smoking behind the counter. Lovely. Peter just huffs quietly and turns away, returning his attention to Miles.

The kid is exploring the CDs, using the kiosks to sample all the music he hasn’t heard of yet. He frowns at one of the discs. 

“Who’s Linkin Park?”

Peter grins. “Think rock meets rap. You might like them. Gwen probably would, too – it would be something to listen to together.” Miles flushes a little at that, but not as bad as he used to. Peter wonders if the crush has settled into something different, then decides it’s really none of his business.

“Which CD should I try?” He turns his focus completely to Peter. “Do you have any of them?”

Peter just shakes his head. “Haven’t listened to Linkin Park in a really long time.” he admits. “But this one is the best, as far as I’m concerned.” He grabs the disc and hands it to Miles. “Come on, I think there’s more hip-hop in the back.”

They wind up walking out of the store with three CDs and a book filled with graffiti art. Miles kept trying to protest, but Peter just gave him a look and a smile. 

“I actually have cash now, and I don’t mind spending it on you.” he says pointedly.

“That’s beside the point – you should be saving up for a better apartment.” Miles protests. “I can use my allowance!”

He can’t, the currency isn’t quite the same, but Peter just rolls his eyes. “Shut up and say thank-you.”

“Do you want me to shut up or do you want me to say thank-you? Because those are mutually exclusive.”

“How did you get to be a smart-ass?”

“I have a good teacher.”

The banter continues as they go on their way.

/-----------/

That thought that Peter’s been entertaining is finally voiced late one night in his apartment, when it’s just him, Ham, and Noir.

“Maybe Miles is the reason we can do this.”

Ham pokes his head up from his position wedged in between Noir’s shoulders and the couch cushion. Noir has passed out cold, his mind completely calm and blank, not even the barest hint of dreams. Peter sits on the opposite side of the couch. Since his fellow spiders have started visiting, he’s found a few more articles of furniture for them all to sprawl on besides his messy bed.

“You mean the bond?” Ham asks finally. Peter nods. “Why do you think that?”

“Because there’s only one of him.” 

Ham considers for a moment. “I met Noir and Peni first. I don’t remember anything weird happening with them – but then again, I have a high standard for weird.” Peter chuckles at that. Ham continues. “I also wasn’t paying much attention. End of the world and all that.”

“Yeah.” Peter sighs. “I didn’t really notice anything until we were all home. Then – then Miles – and that’s when I started paying attention.”

“Yeah.” Ham agrees. “But what would make him special enough to cause this? Besides being a Spider.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the spider that bit him.”

“Maybe.” Ham adjusts himself into a more comfortable position being Noir’s makeshift scarf. “I guess the real question is if it matters. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on meeting more spider-people.”

“Hell no. You five are enough, thanks.” Peter melts into the couch, putting his feet in Noir’s lap and getting comfortable. “I guess it really doesn’t matter. Just a thought.”

/---------/

When Davis meets the black-clad Spiderman for the first time, a lot of things his Spiderman says makes sense. 

The two of them are swinging through the city, hooting and hollering at each other, like it’s a chase and the little one is in hot pursuit.

“You’re gonna have to work harder than that to catch up!”

“Is that a challenge!”

Suddenly the black spider is on the ground, parkour-ing his way through the city, and he’s a hell of a lot faster on the ground than Spiderman has ever been. The small spider bounces off his car – _is he wearing sneakers?!_ – hits the ground, and freezes. Slowly, he turns around, eye shields wide.

“Whoa.”

Spiderman drops from the sky. “Detective, we have got to stop meeting like this.” he quips. “People will start thinking things, and we don’t want our secret to get out.”

Davis barks out a laugh at that. “The secret is safe with me.” he says dryly. The black spider still hasn’t moved, and Davis turns his attention to the kid. “This your kid?”

Spiderman sputters into laughter while the kid comes out of whatever stupor he was in. “What – wait, _Peter’s kid?_ Seriously?” He turns to Spiderman – Peter? Is that actually his name? – and scowls. “Come on, man!” Spiderman is laughing too hard to say anything, and the little spider just waves him off before returning his attention to Davis.

Then he pulls up his mask.

And Davis is treated to the sight of an eerily-familiar face. It almost looks like it belongs to him.

“Do I _look like_ I belong to his white ass?”

Just as fast as he’s done it, the mask is back on. Spiderman’s shoulders are still shaking with laughter, and Davis just smiles. “Don’t have to be blood to be his kid.” he points out. The kid looks up to the heavens like he’s rolling his eyes.

“Don’t I know it. _La familia no es solo sangre_.”

Davis doesn’t have to speak Spanish to know that phrase. “Don’t forget it, either. Do I have to start worrying about you now?”

“Nope. I don’t come here often. This one likes me to stay in my own city, because _my real dad_ is there to watch out for me.” The emphasis is thrown Spiderman’s way, and the older man just starts laughing again. Still, there’s a smile in the kid’s voice when he continues. “I swear, they worry too much.”

Davis locks on to the part of that that makes sense. “Your dad knows what you do?”

“Yep.”

“He’s okay with it?”

“No. But he knows he can’t stop me.” The little spider gives him a two-finger salute. “We should probably go. _Hasta luego!_”

In a flash the two of them are gone, and Davis can do nothing but watch them go.

He thinks of the boy, the not-familiar face, the easy way Spanish slips from his lips.

It makes him think of Rio, and he smiles.

He’ll have to call her when he gets off shift. Hopefully her phone number hasn’t changed in all these years. It’ll be nice to catch up.

**Author's Note:**

> The Spanish is supposed to mean "Family don't end in blood". If my translator got it wrong, please correct me and I'll fix it in the story.


End file.
